Botswana showcases coal as energy crisis cure

GABORONE – Botswana, better known for its dazzling diamonds and abundant wildlife, is looking to draw in investors by showcasing its vast reserves of coal in a region facing a growing energy crisis.

Executives from India, Australia, the United States and neighbouring South Africa will be among the 200 delegates in the capital Gaborone this week for a government-organised conference designed to illustrate the sector’s potential. The June 28-29 conference comes as engineers lay the groundwork for production at the vast Mmamabula coal mine, a project seen as crucial for meeting a looming electricity shortfall in the southern Africa region.”Botswana has vast coal resources estimated at over 200 000 megatonnes.The resources are grossly under-exploited with a production of less than one million tonnes a year,” said Kgomotso Abi, acting permanent secretary in the ministry of minerals, energy and water resources.”With the impending power crisis in the SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) region, the use of Botswana coal resources to meet both the national and regional energy requirements has become imperative.”Many of the 14 countries in the SADC region are experiencing problems in meeting their energy needs, including the continent’s economic powerhouse South Africa where the state supplier Eskom is currently taking out adverts to encourage consumers to use less energy.The Zambian energy ministry for example announced in April that supply would be outstripped by demand by next year, estimating that generation capacity needs to rise from around 1 600 megawatts to about 4 500 megawatts by 2010.The situation is particularly desperate in Zimbabwe which relies on 40 per cent of its electricity on imports from the likes of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo which are running out of surplus power.South Africa will be the main beneficiary of the Mmamabula project in south-eastern Botswana, where an on-site power plant is expected eventually to generate 2 100 and 2 400 megawatts when fully operational.With only one of the country’s 15 coalmines currently being exploited, Abe said the potential was there to export to energy-hungry countries such as India and China which is already tapping into the vast oil reserves in Botswana’s near neighbour Angola.Blessed Chitambira, principal engineer in the department of mines, said Botswana wanted to ensure that foreign investors did not just exploit the country’s natural resources without any regard to the environment.The conference would include environmentalists such as investors in fossil fuels as well as coal industry experts in order to maintain a focus “on the geological environment in Botswana”.”We will be discussing how the potential investors can develop the coal resources in the most beneficial way,” Chitambira added.Botswana has been one of the great post-colonial success stories, averaging around nine percent growth rates in the first three decades after independence, although levels have dipped in recent years to a still impressive five per cent.Its success however has been heavily dependent on tourism, and diamonds which account for 77 per cent of the total export earnings.Abi however said that a thriving coal industry would diversify the base of the economy and had the potential to create many more jobs in a country where unemployment is estimated to be anywhere between 24 and 40 per cent.”Coal-based ecological industrialisation provides a strategic model for rapid GDP growth, socio-economic upliftment, job and wealth creation, facilitating poverty elimination that would be the model for Africa,” he said.Nampa-AFPThe June 28-29 conference comes as engineers lay the groundwork for production at the vast Mmamabula coal mine, a project seen as crucial for meeting a looming electricity shortfall in the southern Africa region.”Botswana has vast coal resources estimated at over 200 000 megatonnes.The resources are grossly under-exploited with a production of less than one million tonnes a year,” said Kgomotso Abi, acting permanent secretary in the ministry of minerals, energy and water resources.”With the impending power crisis in the SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) region, the use of Botswana coal resources to meet both the national and regional energy requirements has become imperative.”Many of the 14 countries in the SADC region are experiencing problems in meeting their energy needs, including the continent’s economic powerhouse South Africa where the state supplier Eskom is currently taking out adverts to encourage consumers to use less energy.The Zambian energy ministry for example announced in April that supply would be outstripped by demand by next year, estimating that generation capacity needs to rise from around 1 600 megawatts to about 4 500 megawatts by 2010.The situation is particularly desperate in Zimbabwe which relies on 40 per cent of its electricity on imports from the likes of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo which are running out of surplus power.South Africa will be the main beneficiary of the Mmamabula project in south-eastern Botswana, where an on-site power plant is expected eventually to generate 2 100 and 2 400 megawatts when fully operational.With only one of the country’s 15 coalmines currently being exploited, Abe said the potential was there to export to energy-hungry countries such as India and China which is already tapping into the vast oil reserves in Botswana’s near neighbour Angola.Blessed Chitambira, principal engineer in the department of mines, said Botswana wanted to ensure that foreign investors did not just exploit the country’s natural resources without any regard to the environment.The conference would include environmentalists such as investors in fossil fuels as well as coal industry experts in order to maintain a focus “on the geological environment in Botswana”.”We will be discussing how the potential investors can develop the coal resources in the most beneficial way,” Chitambira added.Botswana has been one of the great post-colonial success stories, averaging around nine percent growth rates in the first three decades after independence, although levels have dipped in recent years to a still impressive five per cent.Its success however has been heavily dependent on tourism, and diamonds which account for 77 per cent of the total export earnings.Abi however said that a thriving coal industry would diversify the base of the economy and had the potential to create many more jobs in a country where unemployment is estimated to be anywhere between 24 and 40 per cent.”Coal-based ecological industrialisation provides a strategic model for rapid GDP growth, socio-economic upliftment, job and wealth creation, facilitating poverty elimination that would be the model for Africa,” he said.Nampa-AFP

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